


A place to sleep

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Series: Bughead Tumblr Prompts [11]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Homeless Jughead, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 12:25:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9896402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: Hello! I've been following your bughead AO3 stories, and I love them! Could I request a Jughead fic? In the show he seems constantly exhausted, like he doesn't sleep well, he spends all his time at Pop's, and he's totally shameless about asking for/straight up taking other people's food. He also seems like he has little regard for his own personal safety. Could you write a fic where he has a difficult home life that reaches a breaking point, and Betty sneaks him into her house to look after him?





	

“Jughead?” Betty was half asleep when she answered the phone, but even then she was concerned as to why he was calling. Jughead barely ever used his phone even to text, so what reason could he have to be calling now?

“Hey Betts…”Jughead sounded reserved, sheepish even.

“What’s wrong?” Betty sat up straight in her bed, not liking how off he sounded.

“Don’t worry…It’s nothing really.”

“Juggie, there is something going on. Tell me” Betty was on her feet now and the only thing that kept her from shouting the words was the thought of her parents asleep down the hall.

“Can I…” Jughead sighed on the other end of the phone. “Can I crash at your place tonight?”

“Absolutely” Betty said without hesitation. She would find out the details later, if Jughead needed someplace to sleep, she was going to give him one, no matter the reason. “There’s a garden trellis that you can use to climb into my room. Polly used to use it to sneak out at night, mom never figured it out because she never imagined Polly would come through my room.”

“Okay” came the small reply. Betty hung up the phone and turned on the light by her window. Then she opened the window and leaned out. She could just make up Jughead down below, illuminated by the street lamp. A sense of dread filled Betty as she saw the huge pack that was on his back. Jughead smiled and waved up at her when he saw her, Betty waved back but was unable to return the smile. Jughead nimbly started climbing the trellis. When he reached the top he handed his backpack up to Betty who marveled at the heaviness of it. Jughead pulled himself through the window and shut it behind him.

“Here” Betty handed him back his pack, which looked like it had most of his belongings inside.

“Thanks Betty.” Jughead regarded her seriously, probably wary of her questions. But Betty simply looked back, inviting him to share as much information as he wanted. She knew how tight lipped Jughead could be, she would never be able to force information out of him.

“You can sleep in Polly’s bed if you want.” Betty said after a few minutes of silence. Jughead dropped his backpack and sat on her bed, still not saying anything. Betty sat on her bed and scooted so her back was against the headboard. Jughead sat with his head bent low, picking at his fingers. After a little while he looked up and met her gaze.

“Can I just stay with you? I’ll sleep on the floor” His tone was soft but his eyes pleaded with her.

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor Juggie.” Betty said with an eye roll, patting the bed next to her. Jughead gave her a small, kicked off his boots, and sat back next to her. He took a deep breath and finally started to tell her what happened.

“Remember when my parents split, and I chose to stay with my dad instead of my mom and Jellybean because they were leaving Riverdale?”

“Of course I remember.” It had been the only time she had seen Jughead cry. First finding out that his parents were getting a divorce, then finding out that his mom was leaving town and that Jellybean had chosen to go with her. “I remember how impossible that decision was for you” Betty put her hand on his arm.

“It was hard, but Riverdale had you and Archie, plus I worshipped my dad, and Riverdale was my home.” Jughead turned to look at her and Betty was shocked to see a tear slip down his face. She immediately reached up and brushed it away.

“Juggie, you don’t have to tell me anything that you don’t want to.”

“I know” Jughead leaned slightly into her hand, which was still resting on his cheek. “I want to tell you. I’ve…I’ve been keeping something from you…from everyone for a long time. I think I was just too stubborn and proud and ashamed to tell the truth. But I can’t keep running from it.”

“Juggie, whatever it is, you can tell me.” Betty sat up straighter and turned to face him, sitting crisscross. Jughead was scaring her, but she was determined not to let it show.

“Okay…So, I lived with my dad happily for three and a half years. Then I found out the main reason my mom had left both my dad and Riverdale. Betts…my dad is a part of the South Side Serpents.” Jughead bite his lip as he looked at her intently. Betty couldn’t help but give a little gasp of surprise.

“You’re dad’s a part of that biker gang?” She asked incredulously.

“Yeah, when Archie’s dad fired him, he claimed to have gotten a new job, but he was being really vague about the whole thing. So one day I followed him and watched him spend the entire day drinking with the gang. When he came home that night I confronted him about it, he told me everything. He said that he had been part of the gang since high school, but back then it was more for fun and less violent. As the years passed the gang grew increasingly more volatile. Apparently my mom wanted him to leave but he felt too much commitment to his old buddies. My dad chose his gang over our family.” Jughead scoffed in disgust. Betty reached out and took his hand, needing to comfort him in some way. She knew that no words would be enough. Jughead gave her a small smile and gripped her hand back tightly. “I tried to live with it, I tried to pretend that I didn’t care, but knowing where he went each day and knowing that he cared more about the gang than me was driving me crazy…so…about a year ago I moved out.” Jughead said the last part quickly as if that would take away some of the shock. It didn’t. Betty probably would’ve fallen off the bed if Jughead didn’t have her hand in a death grip. He was holding her hand like he thought this information would make her want to run away.

“A year?” Betty said slowly, attempting to process the information. “You moved out a year ago…where have you been living?

“Well at first I slept in my tree house, but eventually the weather got too cold for that. Then, I realized that I was the only person who really ever went into the film booth at my job at the drive in. So I moved in there. I told my boss that the cot was for times when we had double features until the early hours in the morning, so I could just sleep there instead of going all the way home at 3am.”

“Jughead…” Betty shook her head.

“No, no, no” Jughead released her hand and launched himself off the bed. He stood over her with an angry expression. “Don’t you feel sorry for me. It was my choice and actually the drive in was a nice little home. But that look of pity you are giving me right now, that is exactly why I didn’t want to tell any of you!”

“Shhhh Juggie, my parents” Betty whispered in alarm when his voice raised in volume. “I’m sorry, come back and sit down.” Jughead sighed, but returned to his spot next to her. Betty cupped his face in her hands, wanting to make sure that he understood what she was going to say next. “The look I was giving you wasn’t pity, it was empathy. It was me feeling pain knowing that my best friend is going through something awful, and had been going through it and I never knew. I’m upset you didn’t tell me, or anyone and I hate that you went through it alone, but I don’t pity you. You are too strong of a person for me to ever pity you.” Betty said her piece and went to move her hands away, but Jughead reached his hands up and lay them over hers.

“I’m sorry, that was an overreaction…it’s a touchy subject.”

“I can see that” Betty teased with a small laugh, earning a smile from Jughead

“Thank you Betts, thank you for being here for me.” Jughead grew serious again

“We’ll figure this out Juggie. I know Mr. Andrews and Archie would not want you to be homeless. Or maybe Ronnie could get her mom to hook you up with a room. We’re your friends, we are here to help.” Betty stroked his cheek with her thumb.

“Betty, I don’t know…”

“You can stay here for as many nights as you need, but you need to tell them Jughead. This isn’t a permanent solution and my mom will kill both of us if she ever finds out. I will help you tell them and we can wait until you are ready, but we do need to tell them. You know that right?” Betty said gently but firmly. Jughead sighed and closed his eyes, still holding her hands against his cheeks.

“Yes, I know. I didn’t even think about the situation I was putting you in by coming here. I just knew that you were the one I wanted to go to. I feel safe with you Betty, but maybe I shouldn’t stay. I don’t want to be the reason you get into trouble with your mom.” Jughead moved to release her hands and stand up, but Betty grabbed his hands and held fast.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to be really sneaky.” She whispered with a wink. Jughead looked down at their joined hands and then up into her eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, now change into your pjs and let’s go to sleep.” Betty said, pointing to the closet. Jughead dug around in his backpack, pulling out sweatpants and a tshirt and headed into the closet to change. Betty switched off the light and climbed into bed. Shortly after she heard Jughead exit and get into bed next to her. There was a slightly awkward moment where they both lay on their backs, not touching, and barely breathing. Betty knew that Jughead had absolutely no idea how to act in a situation like this. She decided that it would be a whole less awkward if they were cuddling. She hated the weird trying not to touch each other thing that was going on. So Betty rolled over on her side and threw her arm over Jughead’s stomach, cuddling up to his side. Jughead made a surprised noise, but she felt both of his arms go around her.

“Night Juggie” Betty whispered, settling her head on his chest.

“Goodnight Betty Cooper” Jughead’s body rumbled at the words.

With a contented sigh, both closed their eyes and pushed away all of their troubles. Those were problems for the morning, but for right now, they both were going to enjoy the present.


End file.
